Season Finales Have Rocky Finishes For Genre Shows

[Dorian Thompson]

Ratings wise, anyway. The article has a few other comments on content and whatnot.

http://www.airlockalpha.com/news426356.html

It tracks Fringe, Lost, Smallville, and Supernatural's finales. I didn't know Leonard Nimoy had appeared on Fringe.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Dollhouse's renewal proves that ratings no longer matter and networks make decisions via Magic 8 Ball.

Networks don't seem scared of genre shows. The development season is just about as heavy with sf/f as ever, with the usual bias towards cop shows not quite as dominant (yay!), but space operas as scarce as ever (boo!) Everything on TV is struggling, really.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

You got that right. Network television seems an endangered species. It can't compete anymore with all the other options.

They renewed Dollhouse?

 

[theenglish]

Eventually television will go the way of CD's, but I think we're still a few years away from that. Show renewal depends as much on cost and DVD sales as anything else these days.

But as I mentioned in another thread, I think a lot of programs could be better produced on cable networks where they are not held to family viewing restrictions of network television.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

They renewed Dollhouse?

Yep.

Latest Dollhouse ratings: 2.75 million viewers and a 1.0/ 4 demo. That sounds like a bubble show on the CW but it's good enough for Fox.

But as I mentioned in another thread, I think a lot of programs could be better produced on cable networks where they are not held to family viewing restrictions of network television.

The best stuff is on cable now anyway but for basic cable, the "family viewing restrictions" are still largely self-imposed, probably because the viewers have gotten used to it, and basic cable doesn't want to rock the boat unnecessarily. For premium cable, the reverse is true: the audience expects sex & violence to such an extent that I've definitely noticed unnecessarily graphic scenes in such shows as Big Love and The Tudors.

 

[commodore64]

Dollhouse's renewal proves that ratings no longer matter and networks make decisions via Magic 8 Ball.

It's been true with 30 Rock long before. (And I'm glad for it.) But I'm surprised they picked up Dollhouse. I'll keep watching, but I'm not that excited, despite thinking everything else Joss has ever done has been excellent.

 

[theenglish]

They renewed Dollhouse?

Yep.

Latest Dollhouse ratings: 2.75 million viewers and a 1.0/ 4 demo. That sounds like a bubble show on the CW but it's good enough for Fox.

But as I mentioned in another thread, I think a lot of programs could be better produced on cable networks where they are not held to family viewing restrictions of network television.

The best stuff is on cable now anyway but for basic cable, the "family viewing restrictions" are still largely self-imposed, probably because the viewers have gotten used to it, and basic cable doesn't want to rock the boat unnecessarily. For premium cable, the reverse is true: the audience expects sex & violence to such an extent that I've definitely noticed unnecessarily graphic scenes in such shows as Big Love and The Tudors.

I don't know about Big Love but the Tudors is European or Canadian produced which means it has different standards anyway.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

They renewed Dollhouse?

Yep.

Latest Dollhouse ratings: 2.75 million viewers and a 1.0/ 4 demo. That sounds like a bubble show on the CW but it's good enough for Fox.

But as I mentioned in another thread, I think a lot of programs could be better produced on cable networks where they are not held to family viewing restrictions of network television.

The best stuff is on cable now anyway but for basic cable, the "family viewing restrictions" are still largely self-imposed, probably because the viewers have gotten used to it, and basic cable doesn't want to rock the boat unnecessarily. For premium cable, the reverse is true: the audience expects sex & violence to such an extent that I've definitely noticed unnecessarily graphic scenes in such shows as Big Love and The Tudors.

I don't know about Big Love but the Tudors is European or Canadian produced which means it has different standards anyway.

They both proceed from the assumption that premium cable audiences want to see sex scenes so they can be assured that what they are watching is "sophisticated." I noticed that both included more obviously unnecessary sex scenes in their first seasons and then kinda dropped it, once their bona fides had been established. Just playing to the market, nothing wrong with that, same motivation as the basic cable shows that could show more graphic sex and don't.

I also noticed that The Tudors is a bit cowardly, at least for the first two seasons - they depict male homosexual relationships, yet I've yet to see them give those relationships the soft-core porn treatment that they give to heterosexual sex. Big Love of course is off the hook since they're Mormons.